August 17 Letters to the Editor
I'd like to take a moment to thank the Greater Mercer County community for generously supporting the Mercer County Wildlife Center. Most recently, community support enabled our Wildlife Center to care for five baby birds that survived an act of vandalism to one of the purple martin colony structures at D&R Greenway Land Trust's St. Michael's Farm Preserve in Hopewell Township in early July.
The injured baby birds were taken to the Wildlife Center on Route 29, where they were cared for over the past month. That care included feeding each of these birds 60 meal worms an hour for 12 hours a day.
Once word of the vandalism became public, the Wildlife Center and nonprofit Wildlife Center Friends received an outpouring of support. In fact, the Friends group accepted more than $6,000 in donations. Not only did the surviving purple martins have plenty of mealworms for their recovery, but hundreds of other birds and bats in our care also will have enough food for the rest of the season.
On Aug. 8, three of the young martins were healthy enough to be safely released back into the wild near an active purple martin colony. One of the martins is still being cared for at the Wildlife Center and, unfortunately, one did not survive its injuries.
Our Wildlife Center tends to about 2,200 injured, ill and displaced animals a year and has about 150 trained and dedicated volunteers. The center provides these animals with medical treatment and a temporary refuge before releasing them back into an appropriate wild habitat. We depend on the generosity of volunteers and on donations to make that happen.
Again, thank you for supporting the Mercer County Wildlife Center. We could not do the work that we do without your help.
Brian M. Hughes
Mercer County Executive
The sponsors may have introduced A2451/S2474 out of compassion for people who are approaching death. But the finest expression of compassion is loving care that reduces or eliminates physical pain, psychological distress, depression and hopelessness - not providing someone with lethal drugs to end their life. Unfortunately, throughout the campaign to bring assisted suicide to New Jersey, the advocates have continually misrepresented the facts. One of the most egregious misrepresentations concerns the issue of ending pain. Advocates ignore or misrepresent the advances in palliative and hospice care - both of which alleviate pain and bring comfort to almost every patient suffering from a terminal illness.
The bottom line is that medical science is called on to eradicate the illnesses from which we suffer - not to eradicate the patients who suffer the illnesses. Our duty is to assist those who are dying- not kill them. Physicians put their knowledge and skills at the service of healing those who are ill. To use their skills to help people kill themselves would violate their sacred oath.
Remember all life is precious and must be protected from cradle to grave. Call your legislators and tell them to vote against these heinous bills.
Ronald Prykanowski
Ewing
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